A Story That Will Make Your Day
A few months back I saw an ad for a free book called Tortured for Christ on BibleGateway.com. I was curious so I clicked on it and put my address in. I totally forgot about it until I actually received it in the mail. What a great surprise! :)
I started reading it about a week ago and it is amazing! It's an English translation of Reverend Richard Wurmbrand's testimony of his 14 years in a Communist prison for sharing the Gospel. I haven't finished it yet, but so far it's a must-read! I just wanted to share one of his stories that gave me such joy to read. Hope you enjoy!
"Russians--A People With Such "Thirsty" Souls
For me, to preach the gospel to the Russians is heaven on earth. I have preached the gospel to
men of many nations, but I have never seen a people drink in the gospel like the Russians. They
have such thirsty souls.
An Orthodox priest, a friend of mine, telephoned me and told me that a Russian officer had come
to him to confess. My friend did not know Russian. However, knowing that I speak Russian, he
had given him my address. The next day this man came to see me. He longed for God, but he had
never seen a Bible. He had no religious education and never attended religious services
(churches in Russia then were very scarce). He loved God without the slightest knowledge of
Him.
I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of Jesus. After hearing them, he danced
around the room in rapturous joy proclaiming, "What a wonderful beauty! How could I live
without knowing this Christ!" It was the first time that I saw someone so joyful in Christ.
Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion and crucifixion of Christ, without having
prepared him for this. He had not expected it and, when he heard how Christ was beaten, how He
was crucified and that in the end He died, he fell into an armchair and began to weep bitterly. He
had believed in a Savior and now his Savior was dead!
I looked at him and was ashamed. I had called myself a Christian, a pastor, and a teacher of
others, but I had never shared the sufferings of Christ as this Russian officer now shared them.
Looking at him, it was like seeing Mary Magdalene weeping at the foot of the cross, faithfully
weeping when Jesus was a corpse in the tomb.
Then I read to him the story of the resurrection and watched his expression change. He had not
known that his Savior arose from the tomb. When he heard this wonderful news, he beat his
knees and swore-using very dirty, but very "holy" profanity. This was his crude manner of
speech. Again he rejoiced, shouting for joy, "He is alive! He is alive!" He danced around the
room once more, overwhelmed with happiness!
I said to him, "Let us pray!" He did not know how to pray. He did not know our "holy" phrases.
He fell on his knees together with me and his words of prayer were: "Oh God, what a fine chap you are! If I were You and You were me, I would never have forgiven You of Your sins. But
You are really a very nice chap! I love You with all of my heart."
I think that all the angels in heaven stopped what they were doing to listen to this sublime prayer
from a Russian officer. The man had been won for Christ! "
You can buy Tortured for Christ for only $6 here: https://secure.persecution.com/products_feature.aspx?categoryID=59
There are also places online that have the full text of it to read for free.